Day 5: Jurors deliberate in Vanessa Coleman retrialPosted: Nov 20, 2012 5:07 AM
KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Jurors began deliberations in the case against Christian-Newsom defendant Vanessa Coleman Monday afternoon.
Closing arguments began in the morning and lasted through the early afternoon. Earlier on Monday, the defense called Vanessa Coleman's parents to the stand before resting their case.
...snip....
Prosecutors give closing argumentsAfter a brief recess, Assistant District Attorney Takisha Fitzgerald began giving closing statements.
She outlined the timeline of events in the deaths of Christian and Newsom and reviewed the evidence that tied Coleman to the crimes.
She argued that Coleman could not have been in fear for her life because she chose not to leave the house at any point or return to Kentucky with her friend, Stacy Lawson, when she offered.
She said that the other men left her at the home alone with Christian, including the time the men left to kill Christopher Newsom.
"If it wasn't for Vanessa Coleman those four guys couldn't have taken Chris Newsom to the train tracks," the prosecutor said. "Ms. Coleman, at that point of time, is the only captor."
Fitzgerald argued that Coleman had to have heard Christian being tortured in the house because of the severity of Channon's injuries.
The defense argues for acquittal in closing argumentsAttorney Theodore Lavit reminded jurors of their mission outlined during jury selection in Jackson.
He cautioned jurors against finding Coleman guilty because she was present in the Chipman Street house or by association because she was with the other defendants.
"I want you do judge this fairly," he said. "She was just caught up in something."
Lavit argued against the prosecution that Coleman had any involvement and said there was no proof to connect her to the crimes.
During the statement, Lavit repeatedly referred to Coleman as an 18-year-old girl to emphasize her age.
Lavit got heated at times, raising his voice loudly. He said the state did not meet its burden of proof in the case.
He acknowledged that she lied in her first interview, but said the majority of her given statements were consistent.
"We wouldn't be here if Vanessa's story didn't have some warts on it," Lavit said. "Every case has warts on it, or it wouldn't be a case."
"I wish Vanessa hadn't lied. I wish Vanessa hadn't touched the bindings from where her skin cells came off," he continued.
Lavit compared Coleman to the character Tom Robinson in the classic book "To Kill a Mockingbird", saying she was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.
He said that some of the diary entries were written in the presence of Cobbins.
"It represents, ladies and gentlemen, the immature words of an 18-year-old who was unable to try to process what she had witnessed down here," he told jurors.
Lavit said Coleman was afraid of Cobbins.
"She said, 'I was scared out of my mind.' Well, who wouldn't be," he said.
The jury broke around midday for lunch.
Assistant DA Leland Price speaks to jurorsAfter a lunch recess, Assistant District Attorney Leland Price spoke once more to jurors.
He advised them to go over the evidence that had been presented to them.
He said that Coleman had to know that Christian was being brutalized and raped by the other men because she heard Christian say "no, stop don't do that".
Price said Coleman had to have known because she testified that Christian walked as if she was sore.
He argued that while Lemaricus Davidson kept his former girlfriend, Daphne Sutton, from entering the room where Christian was held, he did not require the same of Coleman.
Price once again showed jurors images from Coleman's diary written after the crimes.
"What better way to get in her mind, to know what she's thinking than by looking at her journal," he said, before reading some of the entries.
Price said the diary did not indicate someone who was held against her will or someone who was afraid of her boyfriend.
Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood then read the charges against Coleman and gave instructions for reaching a decision before turning over to deliberations around 3:15 p.m.
....more at linkhttp://www.wate.com/story/20136786/day- ... sa-coleman
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